Anthony Edwards makes a pretty big mistake

[FNG]

It amazes me that so many adults let words affect them so much. It all seems so trivial in the grand scheme of things.

I hear what your saying, Pork, and to some extent I agree with you...words should be trivial. But I think they become less trivial when unkind slurs are directed at us or someone we love. For instance (and I believe kek made a similar point earlier): if I were walking with my wife or daughter, and someone came up to her and called her a fu*&%#$ slut, those words would not feel trivial to me. They might make me so angry I might even hit the guy. I guess I can be blase when I hear a slur aimed at a group I'm not part of (gay, black, etc), but words tend to have a lot more punch when they get personal.

[Crazysauce]

Let's use a more relative analogy here. Let's say I a white straight male decided to go around town with a woman's thong on my face. Ant does a video and says look at these crazy ass white people. Would this even be newsworthy? The answer is no. There would be no apology needed. Yet a group of men decide to wear bras when they don't have breasts, and someone says these crazy ass queers and it's all of a sudden homophobic and slurs. Is it ridiculous to wear a thong on someone's face. Yes. Is it ridiculous for a man to wear a bra, yes. Explain to me why one is homophobic and the other is totally acceptable? I am all ears.

[Jester1534]

Let's use a more relative analogy here. Let's say I a white straight male decided to go around town with a woman's thong on my face. Ant does a video and says look at these crazy ass white people. Would this even be newsworthy? The answer is no. There would be no apology needed. Yet a group of men decide to wear bras when they don't have breasts, and someone says these crazy ass queers and it's all of a sudden homophobic and slurs. Is it ridiculous to wear a thong on someone's face. Yes. Is it ridiculous for a man to wear a bra, yes. Explain to me why one is homophobic and the other is totally acceptable? I am all ears.

I'll add to this and probably be my only post on the matter. I own a union print shop do I print a lot of Democratic signs.

We literally had a client mark his pdf for his lawn signs as black vote, Latino vote, gay vote and trans vote. My point here is you can say you care about this situation and the people but politicians just use this for marketing to a base of people.

Since George Floyd death I've sold over 4,000 BLM signs. You know how many I've sold to actual Black people the answer is less than 200.

Us as a society are trained to feel bad or to get made when ever someone gets out of line. So
I'm not shocked this blew up because your trained to have the gotcha mentality.

Just my two cents. Trust me you don't know how many middle age white women come to my store and tell me I'm doing Gods work.

[WallyBall]

It's hard to say if society became hypersensitive, or whether the people that were previously ostracized in society now have a bigger voice, as well as a more captive audience more willing to listen. Are we blowing it out of proportion? Or is there a lack of insight on how poorly people with different beliefs were previously treated. It's ok to rectify prior wrongs. It seems like a pretty complex issue unjustly oversimplified. I don't have a clue where the balance is.

I applaud our leadership for taking a stance on doing what's right. I feel like the way things have been going the last few years around our country, we could all take a lesson in the decency our leadership stood for. Heck, that news is better then hearing about Rosas playing hanky panky at a loons game!

Ant isn't a bad kid, he is young, and made a mistake. He was also big enough to admit it whether others think it was forced or not. I like him even more because he did that!

Lets get this season started already!

[Lipoli390]

It's hard to say if society became hypersensitive, or whether the people that were previously ostracized in society now have a bigger voice, as well as a more captive audience more willing to listen. Are we blowing it out of proportion? Or is there a lack of insight on how poorly people with different beliefs were previously treated. It's ok to rectify prior wrongs. It seems like a pretty complex issue unjustly oversimplified. I don't have a clue where the balance is.

I applaud our leadership for taking a stance on doing what's right. I feel like the way things have been going the last few years around our country, we could all take a lesson in the decency our leadership stood for. Heck, that news is better then hearing about Rosas playing hanky panky at a loons game!

Ant isn't a bad kid, he is young, and made a mistake. He was also big enough to admit it whether others think it was forced or not. I like him even more because he did that!

Lets get this season started already!

Well said, Wally!

[Lipoli390]

Here's what Kareem had to say about Edwards:

"It would be easy to dismiss Edwards' immaturity--he's only 21--if not for the fact that we've seen so many cases of famous athletes and owners in the news spouting racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. This damages sports in general and their teams specifically, and revives the old stereotype of the dumb, bullying jock," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

"But more important, it perpetuates prejudice against a group and that prejudice often leads to restricting rights and to violence. I don't think an apology--however heartfelt--is enough. Edwards needs to repair the damage with some voluntary community service with LGBTQ+ organizations, particularly youth groups, to show his support. If he can't do that much to undo the harm he's caused, then his apology is meaningless."

I'm a big fan of Kareem as a player and writer/social commentator. He's actually a brilliant writer and I've found him to be thoughtful, analytical and balanced. He'll go after anything he considers wrong, including Will Smith's outburst at the academy awards and anti-Semitic comments by black athletes. So I take notice when he calls out Anthony Edwards. If nothing else, I think Edwards would help himself and his brand by following Kareem's recommendation and doing some community service with LGBTQ organizations. Having said that, I don't recall Kareem setting the same expectations for Durant or Jokic after their clearly homophonic comments even though they were older than Ant when they made them. Then again, maybe Kareem did set those same expectations and I just missed it.

In any event, for Ant's sake, I'd like to see him proactively take some steps along the lines suggested by Kareem. I honestly don't think Ant bears any ill will or hatred towards gay people. One way to prove it and blunt the false narrative that might otherwise take root would be to do exactly what Kareem has suggested.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Here's what Kareem had to say about Edwards:

"It would be easy to dismiss Edwards' immaturity--he's only 21--if not for the fact that we've seen so many cases of famous athletes and owners in the news spouting racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. This damages sports in general and their teams specifically, and revives the old stereotype of the dumb, bullying jock," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

"But more important, it perpetuates prejudice against a group and that prejudice often leads to restricting rights and to violence. I don't think an apology--however heartfelt--is enough. Edwards needs to repair the damage with some voluntary community service with LGBTQ+ organizations, particularly youth groups, to show his support. If he can't do that much to undo the harm he's caused, then his apology is meaningless."

I'm a big fan of Kareem as a player and writer/social commentator. He's actually a brilliant writer and I've found him to be thoughtful, analytical and balanced. He'll go after anything he considers wrong, including Will Smith's outburst at the academy awards and anti-Semitic comments by black athletes. So I take notice when he calls out Anthony Edwards. If nothing else, I think Edwards would help himself and his brand by following Kareem's recommendation and doing some community service with LGBTQ organizations. Having said that, I don't recall Kareem setting the same expectations for Durant or Jokic after their clearly homophonic comments even though they were older than Ant when they made them. Then again, maybe Kareem did set those same expectations and I just missed it.

In any event, for Ant's sake, I'd like to see him proactively take some steps along the lines suggested by Kareem. I honestly don't think Ant bears any ill will or hatred towards gay people. One way to prove it and blunt the false narrative that might otherwise take root would be to do exactly what Kareem has suggested.

Maybe. Might depend on whether it's really that important for Edwards and what he truly believes.

Because bringing up the issue again might make it linger a lot more, and keep putting Edwards on the front line of an issue he might not dig.

Might be better to be cool, let things cool off even more than they already have... and then go off for 40 in back-to-back games or posterize somebody until he just gets mentioned alongside Jokic and Durant randomly on message boards.

[Lipoli390]

Here's what Kareem had to say about Edwards:

"It would be easy to dismiss Edwards' immaturity--he's only 21--if not for the fact that we've seen so many cases of famous athletes and owners in the news spouting racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. This damages sports in general and their teams specifically, and revives the old stereotype of the dumb, bullying jock," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

"But more important, it perpetuates prejudice against a group and that prejudice often leads to restricting rights and to violence. I don't think an apology--however heartfelt--is enough. Edwards needs to repair the damage with some voluntary community service with LGBTQ+ organizations, particularly youth groups, to show his support. If he can't do that much to undo the harm he's caused, then his apology is meaningless."

I'm a big fan of Kareem as a player and writer/social commentator. He's actually a brilliant writer and I've found him to be thoughtful, analytical and balanced. He'll go after anything he considers wrong, including Will Smith's outburst at the academy awards and anti-Semitic comments by black athletes. So I take notice when he calls out Anthony Edwards. If nothing else, I think Edwards would help himself and his brand by following Kareem's recommendation and doing some community service with LGBTQ organizations. Having said that, I don't recall Kareem setting the same expectations for Durant or Jokic after their clearly homophonic comments even though they were older than Ant when they made them. Then again, maybe Kareem did set those same expectations and I just missed it.

In any event, for Ant's sake, I'd like to see him proactively take some steps along the lines suggested by Kareem. I honestly don't think Ant bears any ill will or hatred towards gay people. One way to prove it and blunt the false narrative that might otherwise take root would be to do exactly what Kareem has suggested.

Maybe. Might depend on whether it's really that important for Edwards and what he truly believes.

Because bringing up the issue again might make it linger a lot more, and keep putting Edwards on the front line of an issue he might not dig.

Might be better to be cool, let things cool off even more than they already have... and then go off for 40 in back-to-back games or posterize somebody until he just gets mentioned alongside Jokic and Durant randomly on message boards.

I think your advice might be better for Ant than Kareem's. As you noted, it depends on what Ant wants and believes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

While I can appreciate that point of view, Lip, I've found Kareem Abdul-Jabar to be a finger-pointer and unabashed mouthpiece for the left, especially in recent years, so I don't find him to be any sort of authority or level-headed personality on the matter. He contributes to the perpetual state of outrage and disinformation that society finds itself in and the victim mentality that has helped deteriorate it. I'm not surprised whatsoever that he's helped circulate and condemn Anthony Edwards' actions. That's on-brand for him.

[AbeVigodaLive]

While I can appreciate that point of view, Lip, I've found Kareem Abdul-Jabar to be a finger-pointer and unabashed mouthpiece for the left, especially in recent years, so I don't find him to be any sort of authority or level-headed personality on the matter. He contributes to the perpetual state of outrage and disinformation that society finds itself in and the victim mentality that has helped deteriorate it. I'm not surprised whatsoever that he's helped circulate and condemn Anthony Edwards' actions. That's on-brand for him.

To be fair, there are logical, level-headed people on both sides of the political spectrum. Yes conservatives, even some more liberal-minded people. And yes liberals, even some conservative types.

Not saying that you're necessarily doing that... because Kareem has ALWAYS been a ninny...